Fit Nadal ready with new serve, praises Murray
MELBOURNE:RAFAEL Nadal revealed Saturday he was back to full fitness and has a brand new serve to unleash at the Australian Open.
The World No 2 limped away from Melbourne Park a year ago, forced to retire in pain from his quarter-final with Marin Cilic.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion missed most of the next three months and cut short his season to have surgery on a troublesome foot injury. He pulled out of a Brisbane warm-up event with a slight thigh strain but declared Saturday his troubles were behind him.
“I feel good. If I am not feeling good, I will not be here,” Nadal told reporters two days before the start of the first Grand Slam of the year. “I have good feelings in terms of the surgery. After surgery, after months without competing, having trouble practising, of course there are always issues when you come back.
“But it’s nothing new for me,” added Nadal who admits he has to manage the workload on his creaking 32-year-old body.
To better cope, he has remodelled his serve to help extend his career. “There are always things to improve,” said the Spaniard, who faces Australian wildcard James Duckworth in the first round.
“The serve was always a thing that I tried to improve, and I think I did. I am happy with the motivation to do something new.
If I am able to make that happen in a good way, that hopefully it will give me the chance to help me on my game longer term.
“I didn’t compete with this new serve, so let’s see how it works. I am confident it’s going to work well.”
Of the many banged-up players on tour, Nadal may be the most able to empathise with Murray, having spent long periods on the sidelines with serious knee problems.
“It will be a very important loss for us, for the world of tennis, for the tour, for the fans, even for the rivals that he has been part of a great rivalry between the best players for a long time, and a great competitor,” Nadal said of the three-time Grand Slam champion, who he played in junior tournaments when they were barely into their teens.